Doctors fleeing from Iraq

Forum

Posted: Thursday, July 21, 2005

By Sahar al-Haideri

MOSUL, Iraq - At a time when they are needed the most, an increasing number of doctors are either abandoning their practices or fleeing their country out of fear that they will become targets of insurgents.

Print-ready version

Send to a friend

Subscribe to the Banner-Herald

E-mail the Editor

Discuss in Forums

It's not just their fears that they could fall victim to the random insurgent violence that has swept the country. Many say they worry more about being kidnapped and held for ransom by criminal gangs that have flourished since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The Ministry of Health confirms that at least 130 physicians have been kidnapped since 2003. The Iraqi Medical Association claims that the number is closer to 300.

Dr. Abdul-Wahab, a professor of neurology at the College of Medicine, said he no longer feels safe in Iraq. The high hopes he held after Saddam's fall have long disappeared.

"We expected that Iraqi exiles with scientific abilities would come home (after Saddam was overthrown) but the reverse is happening," he said. "Doctors who decide to stay here are considered heroes."

So far, 50 doctors have been murdered, and 3,000 have moved abroad because of threats against them.

The Interior Ministry has taken to offering to provide guns and bodyguards to those who are willing to stay.

But even those incentives are proving insufficient.

One female doctor, who declined to give her name, said she was kidnapped and released after her husband paid a $20,000 ransom. To raise the cash, they were forced to sell their home and her clinic.

"I can remember the day when I was kidnapped as if it's a video playing before my eyes," she said. "I was treated very badly.

"I have now stopped practicing medicine," said the doctor, who now lives abroad.

Another physician said he has taken a year of unpaid leave from the hospital where he works because he believes his life is in danger.

"This action was necessary. Any man with any sense must protect his life, whatever the price might be," he said.

Recent graduates of the country's medical school say they are now hoping to practice outside their country.

Muhammed al-Hassooni, the ministry of health official in charge of providing protection to physicians, acknowledges the nation's health care system is suffering because so many doctors are refusing to treat patients.

One frustrated obstetrician said she was baffled at why those who labor to preserve life should be targeted for death.

"We are defenseless people who are just trying to provide valuable services to patients," she said.

 Sahar al-Haideri is a journalist in Iraq who writes for The Institute for War & Peace Reporting, a non-profit organization that trains journalists in areas of conflict. Readers may write to the author at the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, Lancaster House, 33 Islington High Street, London N1 9LH, U.K.; Web site: www.iwpr.net. For information about IWPR's funding, please go to http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?top-supporters.html.